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Rivernayve
This small Eriadoran village originally supported four riverside estate houses owned by wealthy merchants from Fornost. Selected by the mercantile families as a idyllic woodland paradise, featuring spring fishing and autumn hunting and hiking, the place seemed veritably plagued by frogs in hot weather. The villagers had developed the habit of moving their sick and elderly away from the river if they anticipated death ,both because of "bad air " and because the frogs seemed to crowd aroud a sick house so their voices frightened all inside.Understandably, the locals seldom ate frogs. The old owners of Rivernayve had resent the Fallohide Bolger and Cudding clans who had been land-clearing around their retreat, so the Hobbits had designated a grassy hill just south of town and overlooking the East Road as their official meeting and market place. These Hobbits viewed frogs as a culinary delicacy, even to the extent of naming their gathering place "Frogmoot " and the village, unofficially , "Frogmorton" However, Hobbit "gigging " parties along the river sometimes were frightened by frog choruses that sounded like mannish chanting, dying frogs that screamed mannish screams, and swarming frogs that clustered around hunters, just out of reach and making menacingly intense uproars. The Nixies of the Water Up until a few centuries before the mid-third Age neither Man nor Elf ever had made use of the excellent river-landing at what was Rivemayve. The reason, beyond that of tradition, had been forgotten by all save a few of the oldest of Elves.This particular stretch of the Fairwater had, since the First Age belonged to a small clan of water-dwelling and water breathing Faerie creatures, the Neneskelie (W ."Nixies" ) or Nenixil. These fairies had the appearance of smallish Silvan Elves partially transformed into frogs. Their composture on land was a semi-squat; when moving alternate between running , hopping, and trotting on fours. In the water they were as graceful as a trout, their grey-green clothing and skin blending with the murky waters so that only their large, pale, white eyes gave away their' location. For all their animalistic features, the Nixies of the Fairwater were astonishingly beautiful in appearance.So much so , in fact, that mortals meeting them had to halt great strength of will to avoid believing and trusting in anything they did or said. The Nenixil dwellt in small family "hallows " hidden under riverbanks or within old muskrat houses.A hallow gave the appearance of being as simple as a den , but the interiors were ten times the size one might guess from an exterior view, having as much space as a goodsized farm-house . The faeries had no metal or other goods, save for what they stole along the river, but made enchanted hunting weapons, clothing, lamps such out of woodland materials and magic and so led relatively comfortable and secure lives. The Nenixil had long ago allowed a band of Eriadorian adventurers to build homes along their river out gratitude for their heroic deeds and in exchange for token rent of one gold coin pe r year.later inhabitants of the rivemayve hlowever had lost all memory of agreement, and the Nixies were plotting their revenge. Each could change form at will into a single riverine animal, including such things as frogs, fish, otters, or herons, creatures native to the area and by nature dependent on the river for life and sustenance. Each Nixy had a specific totem animal, and typically mades friends with other Nenixil partial to that same creature. The nixies'body weight and volume did not change with their shape, so any fisherman who saw three 20 lb green frogs sculling information through the water could be fairly certain to be witnessing a supernatural occurrence. Rivernayve in TA 1640 Cleff Bolger , elected leader of the Frogmorton Hobbits , visits Rivemayve frequently to negotiate disputes and deal with the village's small collection of artisans. He has found the folk of Frogmorton oddly close and apathetic in the past, but over this past winter, the aura of oppression and fatalism among the villagers, the sense of some common doom , has been growing more and more intense. Half the dogs and cats in town have vanished, and three fishermen have drowned in the river; no one in Rivemayve seems to care. Furthermore , a tinker Bolger deals with at the Frogmoot has been carrying an unusual number of letters intended for delivery to Fornost. The tinker thinks that the village elders are trying to bring all four of the Rivemayve masters and their families into town for a spring "festival of conclusion " whatever that might be. Curiously, none of the elders seems interested in contracting fo r work or supplies beyond the date of the summer solstice. Bolger has sent out messages in various directions, trying to locate Gandalf the Grey , but noone can say whether the wizard will get to Frogmorton in time to be of any use. Inhabitants Cleff Bolger References *MERP:The Shire Category:Village Category:Shire Category:Arthedain